This invention relates generally to medical devices and methods of using the same, and more particularly, to an endovascular prosthesis delivery device and methods for placement and deployment of the prosthesis in the lumen of a vessel.
The use of delivery devices or introducers employing catheters has long been known for a variety of medical procedures, including procedures for establishing, re-establishing or maintaining passages, cavities or lumens in vessels, organs or ducts in human and veterinary patients, occlusion of such vessels, delivering medical treatments, and other interventions. For these procedures, it has also long been known to deliver an implantable medical device by means of a catheter, often intraluminally. For example, a stent, stent-graft, vena cava filter or occlusion device may be delivered intraluminally from the femoral artery, via a transapical approach and/or using other acceptable delivery locations and methods for deployment of the prosthesis.
For procedures in which a prosthesis or other medical device is implanted into a patient, the prosthesis to be implanted is normally held on a carrier catheter or cannula of the introducer in a compressed state and then released from the cannula so as to expand to its normal operating state, prior to withdrawal of the cannula from the patient to leave the implant in position. In many devices, the steps to carry out the implantation may occur, for example, first by retracting a retractable sheath to expand or partially expand the prosthesis, and then performing further steps to, for example, release one or both ends of the prosthesis, deploy an anchoring stent, or the like.
The prosthesis which is to be implanted within a patient's vasculature by the delivery device may vary depending on various factors including the procedure being performed and the portion of the vasculature being treated. The delivery device described herein comprises a modular handle assembly that can be configured to deploy a wide range of different prostheses including, but not limited to cuffs, single lumen tubular stent grafts, bifurcated AAA stent grafts, branched or fenestrated stent grafts and combinations thereof. In addition to facilitating the delivery of a wide range of prostheses, the modular handle also allows a variety of delivery approaches to be utilized, including but not limited to transapical or femoral approaches. More specifically, the modular handle comprises various components that have standardized interfaces, allowing the components to be configured and assembled in differing ways, thus providing a delivery device capable of delivering and deploying a full range of prostheses, thus providing high quality patient care with cost savings in production and manufacture.
While this invention may be generally discussed in relation to a delivery device for a stent graft and method of deployment thereof into one or more specific arteries, including the aorta and iliac arteries, it is also contemplated that the invention is not so limited and may relate to any prosthesis and/or any body or vessel lumen in which such a deployment is necessary or desired.